"Our fervent belief in healthy nutrition for the young, à la Jamie Oliver, was the basis of our past proposals to increase the nutritional content and value of school meals.

"But healthy should not be confused with free, and we maintain that the free school meal programme, which has led to an increase of more than £3m of spending on school meals, is unaffordable when there are so many pressures on the council's budget."

The policy was due to come to an end in May next year.

The charity Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) said the proposal to end comprehensive free school meals was "shameful". The chief executive of the charity, Kate Green, said: "This is a huge blow for thousands of children in Hull who have benefited from this pioneering free school meals policy.

"The pilot has already been a huge success, with take-up more than doubling, more children eating healthier meals and an increase in pupils' readiness to learn.

"Reintroducing charges for most families will inevitably mean that fewer children get a decent healthy meal each day.

"It's particularly shameful that the new leadership of the council have pulled the plug on free school meals before the pilot has been fully evaluated."